About Me

Name: Gabrielle Olexa

Age: 32

Location: Matthews, NC

Occupation: Mom/Housewife/Writer/Narrator/Editor

Once upon a time this blog was about a maniac gone awry and the interesting things she found and did. Then it became a blog detailing my life in China for a year. I tried to maintain it when I returned Stateside, and I did for a while, but I found life wasn't nearly as exciting. After much thought, I went back to China - this time for almost 3 years and you'll find several posts about that adventure. Now I am back in the good ole US of A(indefinitely) and my blog is mostly about how horrible of a writer I am because no one will publish my stories. I occasionally talk about my side projects - my audiobooks and the things I cook/bake up in the kitchen. And maybe one day it will be about being a mom because I can now share that experience. Who knows where this blog(or me for that matter) will be in five years, but I'll try to keep it entertaining.

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Latest Video of a Maniac Gone Awry

Found another place to get rejected by, figured I’d try. Tried. Rejected.

Phil finally got the pen needed to draw my cover. Just as soon as he does that, which should be sometime after he finishes building Ash’s playground, I’ll be one step closer to at least providing the words of my story to the world. Who knows if the world will read them, but they’ll be there.

Rejection Letter #64 – The Georgia Review

Dear Gabrielle Olexa,

We are sorry to report that your manuscript has not been selected for publication. We thank you for letting us consider your writing, however, and we wish you the best in placing it elsewhere.

The editors of The Georgia Review

I wish I wr0te more or had more places to send my works because I really want to eat 100 cupcakes of rejection.

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I’ve been way absent lately, but I’m still here, hanging around like a bad case of smog.

In the writing department, things remain the same. I haven’t produced anything new, save a few words here and there. I did find two other places to submit the same stories I’ve been trying to get published for what now seems like half of my life. I should know the outcome of those in about three months(or sooner if they are quick about it). In the meantime, Phil is working on my cover for “Jenny of Lebanon” because let’s face it, I will undoubtedly get a rejection letter – again – and in order to put her out in the world on my own, I need a pretty cover to help sell her. Phil’s a good artist. I have faith he’ll do a good job. But he really can’t work on it until his fancy pen comes in and right now it’s out of stock until something like May. Curses! The writing gods really don’t want me to share my words with the world. Outside of formatting and a cover, JoL is ready to be read. And that’s another thing I have to add to my to-do list. I need to narrate her, too. That’s the one thing I know I can do.

I’ve gotten back into to Postcrossing this year. So if you’ve clicked on my link in my profile and showed up here, “Hi!” Maybe I’ll start flooding my blog with pictures of all the postcards I’ve received. That would be better than pages of depressing rejection letters.

OH! The best news of all is that I got a new car on the 11th! My poor old Saturn, Rosalind, died, or rather her AC did, and we were not about to pay $1300.o0 to fix a 14-year-old car. So, we strolled on over to the local Toyota dealership and bought the car I’ve wanted for years – a Prius. She’s so fancy! It’s going to take me forever to learn all the buttons and their functions. It’s like I got thrown from the dark ages into the future – that’s how different she is from my Saturn. And I think I’ve decided on a name – Starla.

Okay, well I’m going to be a good smog cloud and go hover over the city for a while longer until I figure out what to do next. Take care, strangers!

I stood at my mailbox, sweating my ass off after getting back from a walk when I saw it. I know my handwriting anywhere. It had come. My last rejection letter; one I’d waited 9 long months for. I sighed and ripped it open. What I noticed first was the size of the paper inside. It was a full piece, not a half or a fourth, but one regular-sized 8.5 x 11 piece of paper, folded into thirds. For the briefest moment, I thought it could mean good news, that my journey for this story had finally reached the end, and the end I’ve been dreaming about for years – literally – but then I read the first line. My heart sank. I wanted to cry. I thought about it for a second. My son wouldn’t know why I was and he wouldn’t care. He cries all the time for less. But there can be no crying over rejection letters, so I sucked it up and kept reading. And what I read next really did make me want to cry and I would be lying if some liquid didn’t bubble in my eye duct.

I’m not sure how close I actually was to being chosen, but I was close enough that it mattered – enough so that they took the time to personally respond to me – to let me know that they liked what they saw, what ultimately held them back and to wish me well. And that means a lot to me. Because so often I only get the “Thanks but no thanks, good luck with your life.” letters.

To self-publish or to keep trying? That is the question and one I’m not sure how to answer.

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This one came back in February. There’s only one left, guys, and it’s been over 6 months since I sent it out. I’ll probably be posting rejection letter #63 any day now. Then it will be time to decide what I want to do next.

Rejection Letter #62 – Five Points

Dear Gabrielle Olexa,

Thank you for sending us “JennyKissedMe“. We appreciate the chance to read it. Unfortunately, the piece is not for us.

Thank you for submitting “Jenny of Lebanon” to American Short Fiction.

We read your submission carefully and regret that we are unable to use it at this time. While the volume of submissions prevents us from responding specifically to your work, we wish you the best of luck in placing it elsewhere.

The only way I’m going to reach 100 rejections and have my cupcake party is by writing and submitting more. I’ve more or less exhausted my search for a home for my Jenny stories. At present, there are three remaining places considering them, and let’s be honest, after all the rejections I’ve received thus far, I have absolutely zero hope I’ll get a different response. But maybe the universe will surprise me. That’ would be nice. ARE YOU LISTENING UNIVERSE?!

The only reason why I know I got this rejection is because I signed into Submittable and noticed I had one less story in review. Typically, when a story is rejected there, I get an email, but I guess it got eaten because it never came.

Rejection Letter #60 – Virginia Quarterly Review

Dear Gabrielle Olexa,

Thank you for sending us ‘Jenny Kissed Me.’ We appreciate the chance to consider this submission. Unfortunately, it does not fit our needs at this time.

2 Responses to “Rejection Letter #60”

Hi Gabriella! I found your blog when I started my submission process around the beginning of 2014. Like you, I have been submitting for a long time, and a couple of days ago I had my first acceptance from Necessary Fiction. This is an e-mail to tell you not to give up, to keep trying. Good things come to those who wait (and try).
But (and I don’t mean any offense for your story, after all, I haven’t read it, and trust me, I have more than a few Jennies of my own), maybe it’s time for you to work on new things and maybe take some conscious risks to make your voice evolve. That’s what I did.
Best of luck!
Virginia

Congratulations, Virginia! I’m happy to hear your work has been picked up. I’m sure that was very exciting for you. Oh, and no offense taken, really. It’s my plan to get back on the writing wagon soon enough. Happy writing to you!

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A new year, a new rejection! Woo hoo! The more things change, the more they stay the same, right? I had actually thought they’d forgotten about me, and knowing who they were, I wasn’t about to query and ask what was taking them so long. After looking at the names of the people they’ve published, I knew what the answer would be, but since I’m a masochist, (not really) I had to at least try. I mean, the worst they could say was no. And that they did.

One Response to “Rejection Letter #57”

Hey Gabrielle,
It’s great to see you back here blogging again. Last time I stopped by this blog you were still pregnant. How did it go? Is it a boy or a girl? It’s been a long time and sorry about the absence. But now you know you’ve got one of your readers back. Sorry about all these rejection letters. But as you put it, one way or another we’ll get to read your stories someday. I’m looking forward to that day. It’s strange that it didn’t occur to me until today, the last day of the year 2015, that you might have started blogging again. Anyway, happy new year and I hope you’ll eventually get your stories published. Now that you’re back I’ll be stopping by often and I’ll know once they get published.

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This one strolled into my email on the 14th. Not sure how I feel about the “we hope that you will consider submitting your work to us in the future” part. Did they actually mean it or do they just want me to pay the two or three dollars for submitting online? I kinda feel like I’m paying for my rejection when I have to pay anything.

Rejection Letter #56 – Crazyhorse

Dear Gabrielle Olexa,

Thank you for sending us “Jenny Kissed Me.” While we weren’t able to accept your work for publication at this time, we hope that you will consider submitting your work to us in the future.